Taking a Break 6: Explosive Attraction
by BluebellsAndLavender
Summary: What do you do when you've got bombs hidden all over a hospital and only seven days to find them and defuse them all? You fall in love of course !
1. Danger in the Works

Heehee , new TaB :D I'm particularly proud of this one actually . :3 Enjoy ~

Note, there's a very 'medical' part in this, you don't have to read it , it might bore you all to tears :P

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><p>Taking a Break #6<p>

Ukitake Jushiro x Unohana Retsu

Explosive Attraction

Chapter One

Danger in the Works

**.. ****ღ**** ..**

As Ukitake Jushiro was wheeled to the hospital, he was only thinking of one thing. Of how he had failed to protect her. Her. A ghost child had died because of him. She reminded him so much of his best friend from his days in Rukongai. That child would never know the happiness of finding other people just like her. He had robbed her of her life.

But what was done was done and now he knew he had to focus on the present. All around him, it was white. Everything was white. Doctors and nurses wearing white ran around trying to help everyone. The counters were scrubbed clean and white. Even that captain's robe looks white. Wait, captains robe?

Ukitake took a double take. It was Unohana Retsu! But what as she doing at this human hospital? Ukitake himself was here on a mission to kill hollows but what was SHE doing here? _Oh wait. No, this is her week for taking a break. Yeah, it's her turn._

"Ukitake taicho?" Her quiet voice was filled with astonishment. "If you don't mind me asking, what are _you_ doing _here_?"

"I'm here on a mission, Unohana-san." He paused as she nodded. "I got hurt so now I'm here… What are you doing here? I thought it was your break?"

"It was." As she spoke, she wheeled his gurney away after speaking to the doctor/nurse in charge of him. "But I love working here in this human hospital, it's so fun! It's like taking a break for me." _She's so caring. She's willing to give up her break to help save more patients… Of course, she has always been like this. _Ukitake thought as a small smile slowly crept onto his face.

"I'll take care of you, so don't worry…" Unohana pushed him into an empty room and she helped him onto the bed. He had already been operated on but now, she was going to use her shinigami powers.

Holding both of her hands out in front of her, the healing specialist concentrated. A pale-blue light appeared and immediately, the wounds started to heal. Ukitake groaned in pleasure as the pain slowly vanished. "Thanks so much, Unohana-san!"

"No problem Ukitake taicho." The long white haired captain began to get up when he winced in pain. "You still lost a lot of blood, please stay on the bed for the meantime." She smiled warmly at him.

_Ukitake taicho looks like he's in a lot of pain… I want to help him but this is all I can do. _Ukitake noticed that Unohana had gone into some kind of thinking trance and he smiled in an amused sort of way. She noticed. _Is he smiling at me? Why… There are butterflies in my stomach! Of course, Ukitake taicho and I had always had some sort of a connection but…_

"Uh Ukitake taicho…" She began.

He interrupted her. "Call me Jushiro, Unohana-san." He knew that she had always treated everybody the same way, always using the proper honorifics and everything but he hoped that she would break this rule. He always thought that when people called him 'Ukitake taicho' it made him sound old.

"Well… J-Jushiro…" She looked intensely uncomfortable. "I guess…" _I can't believe I'm doing this… _"I guess you can call me R-Retsu." Ukitake looked immensely surprised when she said this. But then, he smiled. It was as if they were sharing a personal secret with each other.

"Alright, Retsu-san, now, what were you going to say before I so rudely interrupted you?"

"I was just going to mention that there was a spider crawling towards you but now, it's on your leg." Being incredibly scared of spiders and other creepy crawlies, Ukitake jumped. Then, he winced due to the pain that had suddenly shot through his body. Unohana reached out a hand to capture the spider and as she did, her arm grazed past the older taicho's stomach. They both blushed immediately.

Retracting her hand, they stood there as the black spider crawled precariously onto his stomach. Breaking the gaze, she cupped the spider gently in her hands and she set it gently on the window sill. Slowly, it crawled away and she smiled.

"We should refrain from killing living creatures as much as possible." She commented as Ukitake smiled.

"My sentiments exactly."

"Anyway, I have to tend to other patients…"

"Oh yes, you must get going!" Ukitake realized with a jolt. Instantly, he felt guilty for taking up her time.

"I'll see you later…" That one sentence gave him hope. Waving joyously, Ukitake watched as Unohana promptly walked out the door.

Settling back into his comfy pillows, Ukitake closed his eyes and he slowly fell asleep. And he dreamed of happier days to come.

**.. ****ღ**** ..**

As Unohana shut the door behind her, she sighed. Things were getting complicated with Ukitake. _I've known him for a long time but I now realize that we've never actually spent time alone. For some reason, I want to see him again… _Realizing how out of character that she was acting, Unohana quickly shook her head and she went to see if there were any patients that needed tending to.

She knew that when she was in surgery, she had to concentrate. One slip up could mean one patient lost. She had to be careful. But the usually careful doctor suddenly felt that she was losing all her concentration. Her thoughts kept on straying back to Ukitake. He had captured her heart and her soul.

But still, she ignored it. She pushed it aside as she concentrated on the patient in front of her. After all, knee surgery was a serious thing. Checking the chart, Unohana confirmed that the patient was indeed prepared for surgery.

Marking which leg had to be fixed ( the left ), she slid her operating mask on and began to work. First, she cleaned the leg with a Betadine solution. Then, she marked the perpendicular lines of where she had to make the incision.

Grabbing the small silver scalpel from the medical table on the side, Unohana gripped it expertly as she began the cut. Next she used the Bovie to stop the veins from bleeding onto the exposed bone. Elevating the leg 130%, she placed the scalpel back and took out the rongeur.

She reshaped the bone slowly. Unohana remembered the first time she had done this. It had made her sick but now, it hardly bothered her anymore. Using the drill, the elegant doctor drilled a hole in the middle of the femur bone.

She used the jig to set the bone in shape. "Hand me the bone drill please." Her dutiful assistant handed her the instrument immediately. She cut the front part of the femur off, shaping it expertly.

Then she moved onto the tibial jig. Taking the mallet, the fourth squad captain pounded the jig in gently, as to not hurt the patient. Taking the bone saw again, she did the same thing that she did with the femur. Finally, she moved her attention to the patella bone.

Clamping it tight, she used the bone saw once again to shape it. And just as Unohana was about to place in the trial parts, another doctor rushed in. "Dr. Lee!" She recognized him instantly. He was panting very heavily and he was very out of breath. He paused for a bit and the older woman regarded him strictly. "We're in surgery!"

"I know, but this is important, Dr. Unohana! I'll get Dr. Lestrange to cover for you." A young doctor in her mid-twenties hurried past Unohana and started operating immediately on the patient. "Please step out…"

With a curious look on her face, she obliged. Following Dr. Lee outside, she stared suspiciously at him. "What's wrong…?"

"It's a bomb." Dr. Lee was usually calm and composed but now, he looked like he was about to keel over. "There's bombs in the hospital." He finally breathed out.

"Bombs?"

"Yes. We received a letter addressed to _you, _Dr. Unohana. The person who had delivered it looked very suspicious so we opened it in case it was life threatening. Inside, there was only a letter. Here." Pulling out something white from his pocket, the breathless doctor handed it to her.

Unohana looked it over with interest.

_Unohana Retsu:_

_I sincerely hope this letter reaches you. There's a bomb somewhere within your hospital. And the culprit who placed it there was me. Don't bother finding the messenger, I'm much too smart for that. All the bombs will go off at exactly the same time. The force of the blast will destroy everything. Even your zanpakuto's power will not be enough to save them all. Seven days. That is your deadline. There's a series of clues hidden around the hospital that will lead. Here is the first hint. Good luck._

_A patients jacket, a brown baseball cap._

_A doctor's white coat and a place to nap._

_Many of these all around (Or __under__ ), find the right one._

_Be quick, or then there will be none._

Dr. Lee looked at Unohana worriedly. "What is a zanpakuto?" He asked quickly as he saw that she had finished reading. She didn't answer at all. Unohana merely tucked the letter back into the envelope and turned away.

Eating a soul candy, she used shunpo to quickly run down the hall to Ukitake's room. _Thank god he's here… _

"Jushiro!" She slid the door open and it made a loud BANG. The long haired taicho looked up in surprise as Unohana rushed in.

"Retsu? What's wrong? Slow down! Why are you out of your gigai?" Reaching into her pocket, the woman handed him the letter wordlessly. She watched as his expression changed into one of horror within seconds as he read the offensive letter. "I know where this is." He stated.

"Really?"

"Yup. Retsu, if you think about it, we can eliminate some places already. It couldn't possibly be in a surgery room, hats aren't allowed. The stairs or in a windowsill, that's out too. Notice how he underlined under. Perhaps its hidden under a sofa in a waiting room?"

"A bed… Yes… A place to nap!"

Ukitake smiled warmly at Retsu who nodded with confidence. "How many waiting rooms / sitting rooms are there?"

As soon as he asked his question, the doctor's heart dropped. "Too many to even count… It's going to take days and we only have 168 hours… Or a week. _One week. _He didn't even say how many bombs…" But then again, Unohana was never one to give up.

"We can do it. We can do it _together, _Retsu." She smiled nervously at him.

"Alright."

"I believe in you! After all, we've known each other for a long long time…" _This is kind of cheesy. _Retsu thought. _But it's cute. _On the outside, she was always so calm and composed but on the inside, she was quiet playful.

Ukitake shot her a dazzling smile. "Go get some rest, and I'll do the same. Tomorrow, we can go at this with a fresh mind. Okay?" She nodded and stood up.

"Good night, Jushiro."

"Sweet dreams, Retsu…" Her heart fluttered and she noticed it but she disregarded it. It was ridiculous anyway. Sighing, she left the room with hope in her heart. Out of all these uncertainties, one thing was certain. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

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><p>Hehe , bombs . Fluff-ish . :3 Review please !<p>

-Serenity

P.S : I'm a Beta now ! I'm really excited for some reason . :3


	2. Recipe for Disaster

Finally got this done . Sorry for the long LONNG wait D: Enjoy!

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><p>Taking a Break #6<p>

Ukitake Jushiro x Unohana Retsu

Explosive Attraction

Chapter Two

Recipe for Disaster

_**Previously in Chapter One…**_

"_Good night, Jushiro."_

"_Sweet dreams, Retsu…" Her heart fluttered and she noticed it but she disregarded it. It was ridiculous anyway. Sighing, she left the room with hope in her heart. Out of all these uncertainties, one thing was certain. Tomorrow was going to be a big day._

**.. ****ღ**** ..**

She couldn't sleep. She'd already tried to take pills, she had drunken warm water and she had counted one thousand sheep. Sighing heavily, Retsu turned over onto her other side just as the door to her room in the hospital slid open.

It was dark so she couldn't see who it was but she was sure the person was definitely male. "Hey Retsu." It was Ukitake.

"J-Jushiro?"

"Yeah, it's me. It's 5AM already… Did you sleep at all?" Unohana shook her head no as she sat up.

"What about you?"

"Same. Now, Retsu… Since we are both awake, shall we go? We have to find that sofa after all." Quickly popping a soul candy into his mouth, Ukitake came out of his gigai into his shinigami form. He watched as she did the same. The two raced down the hallway quietly, careful not to wake any of the sleeping patients.

"So the hospital has six floors and around five hundred rooms on each floor so, shall we split up or stay together?" He asked. The doctor was about to suggest they split up but then as soon as she had opened her mouth, she found herself unable to speak.

After all, she secretly wished that they could stay together.

"Perhaps we should split up and search?" Ukitake murmured. "But then, it's dark, so, shall we stay together? Yeah, that's probably the best thing."

Unohana was about to point out that they were in a building and that there was lights all over. She kept quiet for a reason. Happily, Ukitake grabbed her hand and they shunpo-d down the long corridor. On the first floor, which was the emergency floor, they found nothing under about six hundred sofas. Now, it was about 7AM. The hospital was about to wake up.

The second floor was the parenting section, made for birthing mothers or recovering women who had just given birth. They obviously had to be quiet and discreet. Quickly ducking down, Unohana checked bed number one. Nothing. Nothing at all.

Inside, she was a little disappointed. Around 8:30AM, the entire second floor had been checked and countless patients had been lied to, told they were doing a routine checkup. Ukitake was starting to lose hope. "Darn…"

"Well, don't give up hope, Jushiro. If we find it, I'll be sure to treat you to something tasty!"

Chuckling, he nodded as he searched on. Finally, at 10AM, the second clue was found. "I FOUND IT!" And with it, a ticking bomb. In a couple of minutes, Ukitake figured out how to disable it by clipping a certain wire.

"So Jushiro, if the message was sent to me at 12PM yesterday and it's 10AM now, and we had 168 hours to start with… 168 minus 22 would be… 146 hours we have left. It may sound like a lot of time but, it's not in reality."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find the next one! Now, let's take a look at the clue."

_Congratulations, the first clue you have found!_

_But don't think now, everybody is safe and sound._

_This next clue won't be hard to find,_

_Just look for a place for the unwell of mind._

"Unwell of mind…" She murmured. "The psych ward perhaps?" Ukitake nodded in agreement.

"Would you like to take a little break? Maybe grab a little … lunch?" Bashfully, Retsu agreed after making sure that afterwards, they would immediately search. Happily, they both walked hand in hand to the little bistro next door to the hospital.

"Hi, table for two please…" Ukitake instructed to the pretty waitress who kept glancing over in a flirtatious way towards him. Suddenly, Unohana felt something she had never felt before.

A pang of jealousy.

_It's probably nothing. I should just ignore it. _She thought to herself. _Honestly, this is all silly. I'm just being protective because he's my friend…_ Following the young girl, the two sat down in an intimate booth all the way in the corner.

"Can I get you guys anything to drink?" The waitress' name plate read Cherry. Cherry flashed her widest smile at Ukitake who positively beamed back.

"I'd like a … what is this drink exactly?" He murmured quietly as he pointed to a drink on the menu.

"Ohh, that!" She giggled in a very feminine way. _My god. Do humans these days have no shame? _Unohana thought in disgust. _Look at the way she's thrusting her chest towards him and the way she's flipping her air and… My dear… I know that he looks rather attractive today what with his adorable t-shirt and shorts but… Even so… _The elderly taicho had never been one for thinking ill thoughts about other people but this really was too much.

"This drink is the Shirley Temple! It's filled with different types of fruit juice and comes with a little umbrella. Now this one…" Cherry was literally leaning over his shoulder and pressing her bosom onto his shoulder.

Unohana had seen enough.

She gently placed the menu on the table. "I'm going to the restroom…" She muttered quietly as she got up slowly, doubting that Ukitake would notice since he was so busy being charmed by the "lovely" Cherry.

Unohana was wrong however. He noticed instantly when she got up. _Retsu, where are you going? _He thought to himself as the waitress tried to grab his attention again. _This Cherry girl is rather annoying. I wonder what she would do if she found out that I was more than 500 years older than her… _Ukitake laughed silently to himself as he tried to picture her surprised face.

"Ahem, Cherry?"

"Yes?"

"I'd like to get two of that Shirley drink please, thanks."

"I'll bring those right out! Just sit tight and don't go anywhere!" Cherry shot him a smile so wide, he swore that it was going to blind him. After she had winked suggestively at him, the blonde girl walked to the kitchen, exaggeratedly swinging her size zero hips.

_Ridiculous. What kind of a girl was that? Was it one of those girls who would sell their selves for money? I remember Ichigo telling me something about that when he came to visit. He told me to steer clear of those girls. I see why now, they're like monkeys! Clinging and never coming off…_

**.. ****ღ**** ..**

In the restroom, Unohana felt like she was losing control. Or was it just that her clothing was too tight? Looking down, she studied her appearance. She was wearing a nice clean white blouse with a pair of black pants. It was rather business casual – a look that she rather liked. So it wasn't the clothing.

Retsu just could not find an explanation for what she was feeling. Sighing, she lifted her hand and touched her neck absentmindedly. As she did, she felt her pulse. It was erratic, and then it was slow. Then crazy again, and then again it decelerated. Being a doctor, she knew immediately that that wasn't normal at all.

"Ahh… What am I going to do?"

_Just what is happening to me?_

Splashing some water onto her face, the noirette made sure that her cheeks were not flaming red before she grabbed her bag and headed out of the small washroom.

**.. ****ღ**** ..**

"Ah, welcome back, Retsu. I ordered drinks for us but that waitress still isn't back yet…"

"Oh, here she comes!"

Cherry walked back with a mischievous grin that seemed to falter a little when she noticed Unohana sitting there. But it was only for a split second before she plastered her smile back on her face.

"Here are you drinks… Oh, you, handsome fellow, here's an extra umbrella for you. It's nice and blue which matches with your eyes. God, I love your eyes." She turned her attention to Unohana just so she could serve the drink. "Here is your drink." And back to Jushiro as quick as lightning. "Just let me know when you're ready to order!" Cherry swung her blonde hair and she giggled before strutting back to tend to another table which consisted of a very perverted-looking man who grabbed her ass and his wife who was horridly obsess and horribly oblivious.

"Alright, I guess I'll have the Cesar salad…"

"Trying to stay healthy eh?" Ukitake laughed heartily. "Not to worry, when Cherry comes back, I'll order a chicken steak. Ichigo said they were very good here!"

"How much time do we have left?"

"Mm, we agreed on an hour for lunch so we still have forty five minutes. Don't worry!"

"Ahem." Cherry was back. Unohana gave a start as she realized that Ukitake's face was inches away from hers. They had been moving unconsciously towards each other. The blonde angel glared viciously at the elderly woman and she sneered as if to say "well I'm younger than you at least!".

"Excuse me, I'll have the Cesar salad with croutons please." She ordered politely, determined not to let Cherry's additude get to her.

"And I'll have one of the chicken steak, thank you very much."

"Alright, I'll get right on that!"

Beaming brightly, she took the two menus and literally bounced to get their order ready. Only about a minute passed before she came back with a huge bowl of chicken wings.

"Uh, we didn't order this…" Retsu said in a quiet voice which made the strawberry-blonde give her a look that plainly said 'shut up'. She was greatly taken aback. _Why does this girl hate me so…? I just don't understand it!_

Truth was, Cherry was horribly jealous. But hell was she going to show her that. _Damn that bitch. Getting so cozy to him. He's mine! Mine, mine, mine, mine! _

"Ohh, it's on the house!"

Gratefully, the clueless Ukitake accepted the basket of wings with a smile on his face. "Thank you!"

_Oh you poor clueless idiot… _Unohana and Cherry thought at the same time.

**.. ****ღ**** ..**

After fifteen minutes of idle chit-chat, the food finally arrived. Or to be correct, Ukitake's food arrived. "Ooh, I'm so sorry ma'am, we're still making the salad!" _Hmph! _Unohana thought. He looked across at her worriedly.

"Are you hungry? Here. Say ahh!" Gently, he pushed some steak into her mouth and she gasped. It was delicious!

"Thank you!"

Just as Ukitake was about to feed her an another piece, Cherry arrived holding the plate of salad. _Just on time! _She thought. "Here is your food… Enjoy!" Unohana took a bite of a crouton, which was something that she really liked. She considered it to be the best part of the salad. But this crouton was horribly dry and … spicy.

"Enjoy your food, and don't choke…!"

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><p>Dun dun dun ... Who's Cherry ? ;) Is she just some dumb blonde waitress or ... something more ...<p>

Review if you liked it ! :D

Cheers,

Serenity.


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